Book, magazine, pamphlet, or the like



' Jan. 9, 1945. MQRETQN 2,367,136

BOOK, MAGAZINE, PAMPHLET, OR THE LIKE Filed Oct. 11. 1943 //ENRY H. Minn/V Patented Jan. 9, i945 PATENIT OFFICE BOOK, MAGAZINE, PAMPHLE'L. OR THE LIKE Henry H. Moreton, East Orange, N, J.

Application October 11, 1943, Serial No; 505,855

2 Claims.

This invention is a book in which the printed pagesor leaves are assembled and joined, in such manner that each page must be mutilated to the extent of practical destruction, by the reader, during his page by page perusal thereof.

. It is Well known to authors, publishers and booksellers that the majority of the readers of the best sellers and the higher priced copyrighted books are to be found amon themore affluent classes, and that relatively few sales of the best sellers are made among the poorer classes. The higher priced books are usually bought with the desire to preserve them in the private libraries of the purchasers, or to be conenough to tempt purchasers by the. poorer classes,

the sales of the higher priced, better editions would fall off to such an extent as to destroy any profitable earnings under copyright protection. The reader who now is unable to'gratify the desire of owning his individual copy must perforce borrow from friends or the public library, or else rent used copies from a circulating library. The danger of contagious diseases lurking in public volumesof this character is well recognized.

An important object of the invention is to make available to the poorer classes the best literature in sanitary form, at a cost comparable with the rental price of a used 091 3 from a circulating library. A further object is to pro vide a cheaply priced book, which may. be published at prices readily available to the poorer classes, but of such a nature that its publication will not destroy the normal demand for the more costly editions. This object is accomplished by printing the pages on cheap paper, and assembling the printed leaves in such manner that each page, after it is read, must be' detached from the rest of the pages before the printing on the reverse side ofthe leaf, or the obverse side of the next leaf, can be exposed for perusal.

The invention will and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing- Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating a .book constructed in accordance with the invention, a portion of the cover being shown broken away.

Figure 2 is a detail plan view illustrating a be hereinafter fully set forth in which a plurality of pages or leaves L are arranged in superimposedrelation, in the form of a pad, so that each leaf may be successivelydetached from the book, in such manner as to expose the leaf immediately under it. ferred, the top and bottom leaves may constitute a cover, bearing a suitable title. It is preferred to so assemble the leaves that While in said superimposed relation the area reserved for reading matter R printed on each of the respective pages constitutes a continuous story reading from the topmost page L to the bottom of the assembly. For purposes of illustration, the reading matter R is indicated by parallel dotdash lines.

The leaves L arepreferably unbound except by means hereinafter described, provided to prevent exposure and perusal of the next underlying leaf until the topmost leaf, i, e., the one finished by the reader, has been detached from the rest of the book.

Referring more particularly to Figure 1, it will be observed that eachleaf L' is provided with a pair of relatively spaced incisions l0, leading downwardly and laterally outward from one edge thereof, preferably the top edge II and toward the adjacent side edge l2. The incisions, however, do not extend to the edges l2, but the paper is weakened from the inner ends of the incisions to the said edges by scored or perforated lines [3. The incisions. ID are shown somewhat gerated asto width, but it is to be understood that the are to be cut by thin knife blades, so as to be of minimum width. The ar-- rangement of the incisions ID and the weakened lines [3 is such as to segregate triangular areas l4 between them and the adjacent corners. These corner areas of the superimposed leaves are united in suitable manner, such as by an adhesive I5, as shown in Figure 1 or by staples I 6 as shown in Figure 2. In any event whatever means is employed to unite the leaves at .the areas It, the arrangement will be such as to .provide block-like portions of a thickness corresponding to that of the book. By this means the leaves L are bound together in their superimposed relation. Each of these block-like portions provides a straight edge which will fa-,

cilitate the successive removal of the superimposed leaves, by causing each leaf to tear along the line of said straight edge, as it is'being removed.

In practice, the incisions l0 may be made and the scored lines may be applied before printing of the leaves, or vice versa, as'maybe desired.

If pre- Preferably the pages are not numbered. However, in order to attain the desired results, the reading matter R must have a portion located between the incisions [2 so that such portion of said reading matter of each leaf will be inaccessible for perusal until the leaf L immediately on top of it has been completely removed.- When the printed pages are ready for assembly, the corner areas are united by adhesive, 'or otherwise, as stated. From the foregoing it will be readily perceived that after the book has been properly assembled, it will be absolutely necessary for the reader to remove each exposed topmost leaf from the assembled book, before the full reading matter on the next underlying leaf, or that On the underside of said topmost leaf, will be exposed for perusal. To remove a topmost leaf, it is pulled upwardly at its lower end, and then crosswise of the sheet in either direction, so as to tear it along the edge of one area I4, and then crosswise in the other direction along the edge of the other area I4, until the leaf is torn along the scored lines 13.

The advantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which the inventio belongs. For instance, an important advantage is that a very cheap method is thereby provided for wider distribution of good literature among the poorer classes. A further advantage is that by insuring destruction of the book during perusal thereof, the circculation of old' and more or less unsanitary books is prevented.

It is to be understood that wherever the term book is used in the specification and claims, said term is intended to also include printedmatter in the form of magazines, pamphlets, and the like.

Having thus explained the nature of the invention and described an operative manner of constructing and using the same, although without attempting to set forth all of the forms in which it may be made, or all of the forms of its use, what is claimed is:

1. A book of the character described having in combination a plurality of superimposed leaves provided with areas for printed matter, means for fixedly binding together selected registering portions of the superimposed sheets contiguous to two adjacent corners of the book to provide two block-like triangular members, each of said corners constituting two sides of such a triangular block, each leaf having a diagonally disposed incision extended across the page adjacent to such a corner, the inner end of said incision being joined by a weakened line extended in alinement therewith, said incisions and weakened lines of the superimposed pages forming the third side of each of said triangular blocks, whereby each exposed leaf may be detached from the book by .severance along the third sides of the respective triangular blocks, the said third sides providing straight edges to facilitate said severance, the lines of severance each being of a length to extend to positions on opposite sides of said printed areas, so that each topmost leaf must be completely removed by severance before any unexposed printed area may be revealed for perusal.

2. A book of the character described having in combination a plurality of superimposed leaves provided with areas for printed matter, and means for cementing together triangularly shaped registering portions of the superimposed leaves to provide solid triangular block-like portions positioned contiguously to two adjacent corners of the book, each of said corners constituting two sides of such a block-like portion, each leaf having a diagonally disposed incision extended diagonally across the page adjacent to such a corner, the inner end of said incision being joined by a weakened line extended in alinement therewith, said incisions and weakened lines of the superimposed leaves forming the third side of the respective triangular blocks, whereby each exposed leaf may be detached from the rest of the book by severance along said third sides, the latter providing straight edges to facilitate said severance, the lines of severance being of such length as to extend to positions on opposite sides of said printing .areas, so that each topmost leaf must be completely removed by severance before any unexposed printed area maybe revealed for perusal.

HENRY H. MORETON. 

